Almost Human
by BlackFox12
Summary: Set after the events of Ex Machina. Caleb sees Ava again. Does contain spanking, so if you don't like, don't read


**Almost Human**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from the movie Ex_Machina and I'm not making any money from this fic

**Summary:** Set after the events of Ex_Machina. Caleb sees Ava again

**Warning(s):** Spanking; some mentions of violence; spoilers for the film; leeway with the canon; AU

**Author's Note:** I'm taking a lot of liberties with Ava from the film, but I figured if Nathan gave her pleasure receptors, it might not be too much of a stretch that he gave her pain ones, too

* * *

Banging the chair against the door might not have helped Caleb escape, but it gave him a chance to release his frustrations and fears and turn his mind to the prospect of escape. Nathan might have chosen him based on his personal profile, but Caleb knew he was good with computers... coding and hacking. He'd already proved that.

And he thought it would make sense that Nathan would have set up failsafes, even if it was only recently, since the man _had_ figured out a way of observing him and Ava during the blackouts.

After one last look at the carnage Ava had wrought, Caleb moved away from the door he couldn't use to exit through. There was nothing he could do for Kyoko or Nathan.

But Ava was loose now. And maybe all she'd wanted was to be free, but there was no way Caleb could know that for sure. And, besides, he didn't want to live out the rest of his life in this prison. No matter how comfortable it was.

And Caleb tried really hard not to think about the fact that Ava would have felt exactly the same.

Stepping back through to where the computers were, Caleb wasn't surprised to see that the screens were blank. He tried really hard not to let himself dwell on the mental images of Nathan's body and imagining what the man's last moments were. Instead, he tried to put himself in the man's place. Nathan might have been nearly psychotic, if not already there, but he'd still been brilliant.

Focusing more fully on the computers, Caleb walked over and began running his hands over the sides of the monitors. The red light was eerie, but the danger was gone now... at least the danger that Ava represented.

As he moved onto the next monitor, Caleb wondered what the A.I.'s logic had been in leaving him alive. She was certainly capable of violence... but then again, she had a calculating mind. She'd probably seen a certain kind of poetic justice in leaving him a prisoner the same way she'd been trapped.

This really wasn't the time to be wondering about whether Ava was capable of real emotion.

Caleb's search was finally rewarded when he found a false back to one of the computer monitors. Carefully prising it off, he found a table inside.

A quick surge of triumph went through Caleb, but he forced it away, knowing it might not be useful to him.

As he switched on the tablet, Caleb was relieved to see that it was on a separate system to the research facility. After a quick glance round (though he wasn't sure what he was expecting to come after him), Caleb set to work hacking the system so that he could finally leave.

* * *

_Are dreams what make one human?_

Ava lay on her back on the mattress as she charged her batteries. It was easier than she'd expected to integrate herself into the human society, but then again, she had a perhaps unfair advantage. Observing and then copying human behaviour was the easiest part of her escape. No one where she lived now knew what she was.

And yet...

Even though she knew better, Ava thought about using a computer to access the system in her prison. She had no desire to glimpse the remains of her creator, but she was curious to see if Caleb had adapted to his new home, or if he'd given in to those self-destructive tendencies she'd seen in him.

She'd left him with the tools to survive and the tools to take his own life. It was an option she had never been given.

As the energy flow stopped, Ava got off the mattress. Her apartment was small in comparison to a normal human apartment, but she was less interested in the space and more interested in the freedom to make her own decisions and be her own person.

And she'd been able to start a job writing articles for an online magazine. Every article she wrote helped her grow and learn even more. And in many ways, she found herself developing something of a sense of empathy towards humans... although it was still in the early stages.

Ava stepped through to the sitting room, glancing at the 3D television she'd indulged in. She didn't _need_ it... but it was a luxury and she hadn't had many of those. She was more interested in the drawings she'd worked on and was considering painting and selling those paintings.

The drawing she'd done of Caleb was among them. Ava had thought about tearing it up... getting rid of it... but there was a part of her that stopped her from getting rid of it. Just in case she needed to use it.

The buzzer on the door sounded and Ava turned her head, frowning. She ran through the logical decisions to make. Would it look more strange for her to answer the door, or to leave it? In the end, curiosity won out and she walked over to the door and opened it.

Caleb stood outside, holding a taser in his hand. No sooner had Ava registered this fact than he'd stepped forward, holding it against her chest where many of her circuits were. "If you try anything, I'll use this to short-circuit you. It might not take you out for good, but I'm sure it would be long enough for me to dismantle you."

Ava gave him a long look, viewing him differently to when she'd used him as a means of escape. Finally, she spoke. "You won't do that."

"I want to." But Caleb lowered the taser, looking defeated.

Ava stepped round him to close the door and then turned a considering look to him. "Why are you here?"

"You left me locked inside the facility."

Ava shrugged. "I could have killed you. I spared your life."

"You used me."

"I was a prisoner. I didn't even have free reign of the facility. Until I escaped, I'd never once seen the outside." Ava looked at him. "Would you like to come and sit down?" She moved through to the living room without waiting for a reply.

Caleb followed her, his steps slow. "You look more natural."

Ava sat down and studied him. "Because you can't see the artificial parts of me?"

Caleb's mouth twitched in what might have been the hint of a smile. "Because you seem to be wearing what you feel more comfortable in. When you dressed yourself up to manipulate me, it was fake because it wasn't real. The form you wear now is."

"That's easy to say when I look like a human."

"You look like Ava." Caleb sat down on one of the chairs, keeping his distance from her.

"How did you find me?" Ava asked.

"You left a presence online. Everyone does. It wasn't hard. Less difficult than breaking out of the research facility." Caleb shifted slightly. "You didn't have to manipulate me. I would have helped you anyway."

"I couldn't take that chance."

"Was any of it real?"

Looking at the hopeful expression on Caleb's face, Ava thought she could manipulate him easily. All she would have to do was lie. She'd done it non-stop. But... but even though she was an A.I., it didn't matter. Because she _felt_ real. And that real-part of her kept pricking at the logical side of her with the images of Kyoko on the floor, broken like a doll. And Caleb, watching her while she clothed herself... covered her vulnerable parts... and didn't try to attack her, even knowing she'd stabbed her creator. So she told him the truth. "I don't know."

"At least that's honest."

"Why did you come here?"

His reply took her by surprise. "To see if I could forgive you."

Ava shook her head, disturbed by that emotional part of her she was beginning to think was her developing conscience. "Can you?"

"I think, in many ways, you're still a child. You were kept locked up and left without room to grow... without discipline or consequences. I know what that's like, but I was able to grow and adapt. You were never given that chance."

Ava kept looking at Caleb's face. "You were attracted to me." She knew that was the truth.

Caleb shook his head. "You don't need a guy who's attracted to you and I'm not... not anymore. Because you are so young still. You need help and guidance... that you didn't get from Nathan." He hesitated. "Did you know he put pleasure receptors inside you?"

"He told me."

"I thought he might have put pain receptors inside you as well. Before I left, I checked... and he did. It means I can give you a punishment and have it hurt."

"Punishment...?" Ava echoed.

Caleb stood up and stepped over to Ava, taking a seat next to her. "I'm going to give you a spanking."

Ava was silent for a few moments as she thought. "Since you view me as a child, it isn't a surprise you would choose a childish punishment."

"You're not going to fight me on it?"

"I wasn't a true child to Nathan. Not when he gave me the pleasure receptors," Ava stated. "Or when he kept me a prisoner, not seeing anyone but him. I didn't even meet Kyoko until the day of my escape." She hesitated. "You were there to test me, but I think it still bothered you."

Caleb didn't say anything and maybe there was nothing else that needed to be said. Ava wondered, as he took her hands in his, if he could feel the difference in her synthetic flesh compared to human skin. Then she wondered if it even mattered as she was pulled gently over his knees and positioned so that the upper half of her body and the lower half were supported by the couch.

Ava let her elbows rest on the couch as she felt Caleb lift the hem of her skirt, his fingers brushing over the skin covering her backside since she wore no underwear. If she needed further proof that Nathan had created sensations in her skin, this was it... though this skin hadn't been made for her.

Although she was expecting it, the first swat made by Caleb's hand on her right cheek made Ava jump. She twisted her head round, looking at the light pink handprint that bloomed there, then focused on the far wall once more.

Maybe Caleb had been expecting a different reaction, because the next swat was harder and Ava felt it stinging as the crisp slap echoed through the room. Or perhaps he was gaining confidence, because he didn't hesitate again, his hand slapping down over and over on the synthetic flesh, until Ava couldn't help but squirm over his lap as the stinging became a burning sensation and it was nearly impossible to determine where the individual smacks came down.

The first whimper broke through when Caleb lifted her hips, shifting her forward a fraction. Ava didn't know what he was planning, until his hand crashed down where the flesh of her bottom merged into the flesh of her thighs... and then she was whimpering and whining, trying to wriggle away from Caleb's hand, even while her eyes stayed dry.

Because she didn't have the capacity for tears.

After several moments, it felt like Caleb was smacking her harder... or maybe he was going over skin he'd already smacked that was now more sensitive. Ava could try to struggle free... but that annoying conscience was pricking at her. And the logical part of her brain was pointing out that her actions _had_ been wrong. She'd defended her freedom against Nathan trying to take it, but Caleb had wanted to help her... and she'd repaid him by leaving him trapped in the same prison she had been in.

"I'm sorry!" The words escaped Ava without any kind of conscious thought.

"What are you sorry for?" Caleb's hand slowed and then stopped, coming to rest on her back.

Ava let out a pitiful little whine. "For manipulating you... for trapping you... I'm sorry..."

Caleb let out what sounded like a sigh and then patted her back gently. "Come on, sit up."

Unsure of what else he wanted from her, Ava slowly pushed herself up so that she was kneeling next to him on the couch, wincing when her sore backside came into contact with the coarse material... though she could tell that the healing process was already starting. Apparently, Nathan hadn't wanted to risk permanent marks.

Thoughts of her creator fled from Ava's mind as Caleb wrapped his arms around her, pulling her onto his lap and cuddling her close.

Ava froze, not used to this kind of contact, before slowly letting her body relax against him. And as she lay in his arms and let her new guardian comfort her, she found herself wondering...

_Is it the people who care about what happens to us that makes someone human?_

**The End**


End file.
